Amazon HQ2: Cincinnati 'in it to win it' even as media short lists point elsewhere

Seattle-based Amazon is looking for another city to build its second headquarters and has plans to invest $5 billion and create 50,000 jobs. Jane Lee reports.
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In this Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, photo, packages riding on a belt are scanned to be loaded onto delivery trucks at the Amazon Fulfillment center in Robbinsville Township, N.J. Amazon is holding a giant job fair Wednesday, Aug. 2, and plans to make thousands of job offers on the spot at nearly a dozen U.S. warehouses. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)(Photo: Julio Cortez, AP)

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley told CNBC that the city "will be very aggressive on tax incentives to land this incredible opportunity,'' which would bring 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in capital expenditures to the community that succeeds.

Short lists of top contenders created by national business and tech sites by and large point to other communities' chances as better than Cincinnati's. Nonetheless, local officials are expressing their determination to win the prize.

The stakes are enormous, economic-development experts say.

"Cities constantly compete for firms, but the potential impact of Amazon means that the scale of this competition will be historic," Joseph Parilla of the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program writes at fortune.com. "If done right, one U.S. city could transform its economy while setting a new model for corporate attraction."

Parilla says tax incentives will certainly play a role but suggests cities put their best foot forward by marketing attributes including "skilled workers, well-connected infrastructure, vibrant places, and good communities."

Amazon has said it wants its "HQ2" to be near a metropolitan area with more than a million people; be in an area where it can attract and retain top technical talent; have access to mass transit; and be within 45 minutes of an international airport, among other criteria.

"We meet all of their requirements,'' said Joshua Wice, vice president of operations and strategic initiatives at REDI Cincinnati, the region's lead economic development agency.

FoxBusiness.com

FoxBusiness.com suggests Cincinnati as a possibility, even while describing the city as "terminally uncool." Also hurting the Queen City: "The city also has awful public transportation, and Amazon likes public transit."

Nonetheless, the Fox Business site links to a tweet by local resident Derek Kessler, editor of TeslaCentral.com, who likes Cincinnati's chances ("the logical choice," he says).

"Amazon already has a major investment there: a $1.5 billion dollar cargo hub," Fox Business writes. And the website offers these selling points for the Queen City: "Cinci is certainly affordable, with a historic downtown that's been in the midst of redevelopment.”

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CNN

Austin, Pittsburgh and San Jose were on CNN's list of top contenders, primarily because they have the amenities of a big city but much cheaper housing than Seattle and a heavy concentration of tech talent.